RadiantSvgun wrote:As far as HD, I haven't seen it for sale at all, I've been checking shmups and YAJ. All I find is the saturn version.

I would just get the Saturn version; the upgrade vastly improves the original game (which was already very good).

zinger wrote:I've been meaning to properly sit down and play Psycho Dream after all these years, but there are tons of sound issues when I try to run it in ZSNES. It can't be that the game hasn't been properly emulated?

I thought SNES sound emulation was imperfect in general, because of some analog components in the hardware (which also makes SNES consoles of different vintages sound different).

Shou wrote:A tasty update, I've located a Vertexer

Congratulations!

Seriously, this is like the most densetsu-teki na game of all time. Would be a dream to play the real deal once.

icycalm wrote:Excuse my ignorance on this matter but I find it incredible that anyone is able to make such claims as "Game X has NEVER been seen in Akiba and NEVER been sold at auction", etc.

Do you like google every game in existence two times a week for 30 years straight or something? Or is there something I am totally missing here?

I don't mean to be rude, but unless you are exaggerating on purpose and everyone's in on this except me, I just don't see how such claims are possible.

I dare say I have a unique view on this as I'm going by my own frequent visits over the last decade and reviewing shop price lists since 1998 on the status of PCB availability in Japan (I've been buying from the PCB shops since then). I also know the owners for all of the remaining existing PCB shops in Tokyo and several retro arcades across Japan (they rent PCBs from me). Like many jobs in Japan, these guys are lifers and have been in the industry forever. If Mak and Try say that a board has never come in before and then checking with retrocentric arcades and Japanese collectors that go back 30 years then I'm pretty certain I have a very good gauge on where the market is. As for Yahoo, I've been watching and buying since the late 90's, obviously, I could miss something but the larger circle of Japanese collectors who are also monitoring auctions are people I also consult with and have not seen something like a Last Survivor before. Obviously, something can slip through the cracks but if no one in this current circle of collectors and Takai Shokai (an infamous PCB rental company/museum here in Japan) have the game then it's very rare.

I know only 1 other person who has a Last Survivor and it came from the same set of 4 as mine, other 2 in this set have dead batteries. I know 2 other collectors and 1 PCB shop who own a Cyber Sterra. I only know 1 collector who has Vertexer.

None of the remaining PCB shops in Tokyo have had any of these come in ever as I confirmed with them.

By the way whats the mame status on cyber sterra? Not that I'm impatient or anything, just curious heheh

I need to document Cyber Sterra as in dump the ROMs, photograph and take apart the board stack so the devs can understand how it works. I'm actually having issues getting it to run on my monitors since it splits the sync across H and V. Need to build a circuit to combine the sync this weekend as recommended to me by another owner who has it working on a Framemeister and try it out.

I also have to redump a portion of JP Punch-out which is the next thing I'll get to since the board stack is taken apart and sitting on my dumping setup.

I was looking through some of the boards I have out and found some others that are on my radar to dump soon or are in the process of being dumped:Cotton Boomerang (Asia)Crisis Zone (JP)G-LOC (JP)Gun Survivor 2 (JP, World)Heavy Barrel (JP)Mazan (US)Ninja Assault (JP, World)Prop Cycle (JP)Rabbit (JP)Radirgy Ver A (JP)Time Crisis (JP)Tokyo Wars (JP)

A lot to do and I don't have a lot of free time to spend on them TBH. Rabbit is going to require a fundraiser as the owner wants a ton of cash to free this proto.The namco boards may take awhile as they are Flash ROMs and I don't have the ability to do those myself.

icycalm wrote:Excuse my ignorance on this matter but I find it incredible that anyone is able to make such claims as "Game X has NEVER been seen in Akiba and NEVER been sold at auction", etc.

Do you like google every game in existence two times a week for 30 years straight or something? Or is there something I am totally missing here?

I don't mean to be rude, but unless you are exaggerating on purpose and everyone's in on this except me, I just don't see how such claims are possible.

There are tools out there (and sites) which log this stuff. "EVER" is a strong claim, but for such a rare item, it is not far fetched at all. Even I harvest quite a bit of data, but I've toned it down a bit. Something would need to come out and sell BIN before my script caught it. The other sites where you pay for the old auctions are probably much more sophisticated and lose much less.

And as Shou stated... it's a pretty small community. It is quite unlikely for these things to pass hands through a store and not be well known. Even before the days of Twitter and Cockbook, any item w/ 5-star rarity that showed up in Akiba or Yahoo would be documented on a horribly designed, 95% text Japanese website.

Seriously, this is like the most densetsu-teki na game of all time. Would be a dream to play the real deal once.

Definitely going to drop in for a visit once it's confirmed to work... despite his dog doing a 180 and hating me.

Rade wrote:Finally received a reply by posting in a thread at that Gaijin forum:

Completely unrelated to the current discussion, but anyway, I've been meaning to properly sit down and play Psycho Dream after all these years, but there are tons of sound issues when I try to run it in ZSNES. It can't be that the game hasn't been properly emulated?

Do you want my cart? I use a flash cart now so I won't miss it. It'd be weird if the game used some weird sound hardware because it doesn't sound any better than the average SFC game, and the actual music wasn't too remarkable either from what I recall.

Completely unrelated to the current discussion, but anyway, I've been meaning to properly sit down and play Psycho Dream after all these years, but there are tons of sound issues when I try to run it in ZSNES. It can't be that the game hasn't been properly emulated?

Do you want my cart? I use a flash cart now so I won't miss it. It'd be weird if the game used some weird sound hardware because it doesn't sound any better than the average SFC game, and the actual music wasn't too remarkable either from what I recall.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if your just mistaking the music to have issues zinger hehe, the game deliberately has a really bizarre soundtrack that uses limited samples and repetitive melodies. Check the longplay here to make sure anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlKH1_estpw

I quite like the music and think it really adds to the fucked up atmosphere.

Ara Ararauna, Blue and Gold Macaw, 32-34 inches

They are adaptable, and enjoy being in social situations. They readily become adept at performing tricks, and seem to love doing so. Cost:$900-1400

No that's not it. There's no music at all in the first stage and the sound effects like sword slashing keep looping for several seconds after you've used the weapon. I tried to run it with another emulator and it seemed to emulate the sound decently but had graphical emulation issues instead. Vixen 357 is a game I always thought wasn't properly emulated when I ran it in Gens, because of how messed up and annoying most of the music is, but it's exactly the same as the official soundtrack recorded from original hardware. Weird game.

Thanks for the offer JoshF, but I think I'd prefer a boxed copy with a manual.

Also I just checked out vids of VIxen 357, what the fuck were they thinking with the sound hahahah. There was one track that was ridiculously catchy I heard but all the tracks still sound totally glitched.

Ara Ararauna, Blue and Gold Macaw, 32-34 inches

They are adaptable, and enjoy being in social situations. They readily become adept at performing tricks, and seem to love doing so. Cost:$900-1400

If you're there on the weekend, it's just across from the beatniks selling crap on the sidewalk in front of that newish building. Shou can give you their schedule but they seem to change the top floor from a PCB shop to something else every 4-6 months.

Rade wrote:Finally received a reply by posting in a thread at that Gaijin forum: